I love UCR. The people in my department are really great. It's nice being somewhere academic but still full of normal people too. I don't know what being an undergrad there is like, mind you, but for gradschool it's a blast. I'm in math but I have plenty of friends in the physics department who feel the same way about it. The atmosphere is very relaxed, very Californian. I only had a year of course work and the classes were very easy, but I still enjoyed them a lot - I don't know how this compares to the undergrad experience though. Many of the grads here did their undergrad here too, and they seemed less prepared than many of us at first though, so I think for math they are a little weak during the college years. But I love the people. Also, lots of women - we have a greater selection of ladies than any school I've been too.

http://www.engr.ucr.edu/" [Broken] is pretty well thought of, from what I know. I know they get tons of government contracts and are always winning engineering competition awards for various things. Apparently they also put more emphasis into teaching than other UCR departments, which is really great for undergrads. I don't actually know any students in engineering though.